Veteran short story authors of a variety of genres, Marc and Kelly will wholly entertain you with their scintillating prose, put you on the edge of your seats, have you reaching for a hanky, and will bring a few smiles to your convention-weary faces.
Before you rush off to dinner, sit back and listen to a pair of our talented panelists read to you from their latest works. You'll forget you were hungry ... for food.
New York Times Bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole invites you to spend your dinner hour listening to something new he's written. Make it a picnic and be prepared to be heartily amazed and entertained.
If you’re not writing in the “real world,” and you’ve created a land of your own, you have to do more than draw a map, add a river, and sprinkle in some mountains and other geographical features. You have to put a lot of thought into the place. Our panelists will tell you what elements make a fantasy setting believable, including weather, population clusters, animal life, and more.
Supporting characters ... sidekicks, lieutenants, minions, and the like ... can make your major characters and plot more complex. Your hero needs a best buddy or confident, a sounding board for dialogue, someone to turn to when the villain gets him down. And your villain ... lackeys are good. Learn how to abolish cardboard cutouts while preventing your second bananas from stealing the show.
In some tales the setting is as key as the heroes and villains who stride across the landscape. Some writers are able to paint their setting so well that their readers sweat in the bayou, shiver in the arctic, and gag in the swamp. We'll discuss techniques for turning your story's backdrop into a place so vibrant, mysterious, scary, or enchanting that the reader will feel a part of it ... and all without letting your prose go purple.
It isn't easy, balancing the challenges of writing with family, day jobs, and the rest of life's pitfalls and roadblocks. We'll give you ideas for managing the stress of hitting deadlines, finding time to complete that great American novel, and putting your work out there for the world to judge.
This one was sooooo popular last year that we decided to continue the discussion. Sex, death, horror, and revenge ... is there a line? And when is it okay to cross it in your manuscript? When is 'it' too much? We'll examine various 'touchy subjects,' the marketplace, and provide advice on when to tone things down or amp them up.
Mold a truly remarkable villain, a character memorable to your readers, devoid of cliches, and one who can go toe-to-toe with your protagonist. For one hour, no heroes are allowed.
The fun part is writing your story. But there’s a “work’” element to consider and we’ll cover that here ... agents, expenses, tax deductions, contracts, conventions, and more.